To think its time we went back to the old pop bottles banned most plastics??

[LanaKanesLeftNippleTassle]

Reading an artcle in The Guardian this morning....

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/27/plastic-debris-inundates-remote-uk-coasts-endangering-wildlife

From the article:

A Greenpeace research ship has spent the past two months touring the Scottish coast and islands assessing the impact of plastic waste.

Marine scientists on the Greenpeace ship Beluga II will undertake a detailed analysis of the results over the next two months. But the initial findings from the voyage paint a bleak picture:

Plastic waste, from bottles to bags and packaging, was found on every beach surveyed

Microplastic and other plastic fragments were found in the feeding grounds of basking sharks, seals and whales

Plastic bottles, bags and packaging were found in birds nests at internationally significant seabird colonies, in areas such as the Bass Rock, Isle of May and the Shiant Isles

Last month scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world’s most remote islands, an uninhabited coral atoll in the South Pacific.

The tiny landmass in the eastern South Pacific, was found to have the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8% of the pollution plastic.

It's a fucking environmental disaster.

We need to do something about this, strting with forcing drinks companies to completely change their packaging.

Added to the fertiliser run off poisoning our seas, plus all the other crap we leave floating about there, and I'm frankly surprised there is any sea life left at all.

What can we do MN??

Oh- one thing you can do yourselves is STOP BUYING THINGS WITH MICROBEADS IN.

They are incredibly bad for the environment and water systems.

Second thing we can all do.....

Pick up your litter (obviously) but also, and I know it's shit, but I do it myself, pick up other peoples if you can.

There's always going to be a selfish knob who drops it, but if the nice, environmentally minded people outweigh the selfish pricks, then we might get somewhere.

Following on from that.....education to kids about litter, packaging and the affect on our wildlife etc.

I'd def pay a bit more for glass bottles, the pop stays fizzy for longer.

Greenpeace have a campaign at the moment about this specifically targeting Coca Cola.

I use reusable water bottles but DH likes to buy a lot of Diet Coke and tonic water in plastic bottles. I also get through a lot of contact lens solution in plastic bottles and DD is fond of plastic toys.

Our school uses loads of disposable plastic cups when they give the kids squash at special assemblies. There is a campaign called Kids Against Plastic so maybe I could tell the school about that.

Maybe we need a bottle deposit scheme like I think they have in some European countries.

In Germany/Sweden etc they haave bottle deposit schemes, like we used to have, they have them for plastic bottles as well as glass.

You bring all your bottles back and get vouchers to spend in the shop.

I live in Holland and we have plastic bottles here, each with a 25 cent deposit on them. You return them yourself using a machine at the supermarket that spits out a receipt for the amount returned. The cashier scans the receipt at the register and the amount is credited against your shopping (or returned in cash if you're not buying anything).

Beer bottles have a deposit of ten cents each and crates are something like 6 or seven euros.

Small plastic bottles have no deposit though. But we have more and more big recycling bins on the streets for plastic, so that's a start.

Cross posted

I much prefer glass bottles anyway, don't buy much fizzy juice anyway.

Everything has far too much packaging in general, irritates me.

Bottle deposit system is the way to go. I'm in Finland and you don't find bottles and cans littering the streets/parks/beaches here because people return them for their money and those that are abandoned outside (usually by people drinking in the park, or on their way to the pub) are quickly gathered up by hordes of little old ladies and children wanting a bit extra cash!

Hah chump that was exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of!

I think a lot of people are inherently lazy when it comes to stuff like this, just shove it all in the bin and don't even think about it really.

If giving people money back for returned bottles gets more bottles out of landfill/general waste, then it's got to be worth a try.

Plus, I can see gangs of enterprising kids going around finding bottles and using them to buy stuff, which wouldn't be a bad thing!

Cross post Natsku!

See I knew that a money back scheme would get people out, actively looking for and collecting rubbish.

Preference is always glass bottles, we try to buy drinks in glass bottles or alu cans where possible. Glass bottled cordials are things my kids don't seem to care for, but we have compromised on water bottles by getting a cooler, the bottles for that are plastic but have more uses generally (growing potatoes or strawberries).

Personally though I think to tackle the abundance of plastic bottles someone needs to invent a resealable can or glass bottle, or indeed be able to hand over your own cup for fountain drinks that sort of thing.

The amount of packaging just isn't funny. We have two massive 240 litre recycling bins (not including the green waste bin) despite which we still end up visiting the recycling centre. It's crazy.

There was an interesting segment on Country File a week or so back. Washing items like fleeces contributes to the problem too as they shed micro plastics into the water system.

I completely agree OP. We used to return our glass bottles to the corner shop and they'd give us the deposit back. Back then milk came in glass bottles too, which went back to the dairy. Why isn't there the political will on this? What can we do as citizens?

@GhostsToMonsoon Yeah we definitely need to be targeting the big companies like Coca Cola as a priority.

I hate them anyway (stealing local water supplies, anyone?) but they actually have the power to make a huge fucking difference.

Sadly as our whole world is currently profit over all other considerations, I don't see it changing any time soon!

@zzzzz absolutely!

It's killing our marine life, especially the already endangered big mammals.

I don't eat fish, but if I did I wouldn't be anymore!
The amount of toxic shit in the marine food chain is shocking, really, really horrifying.

And big mammals are eating vast quantities of fish, resulting in concentrated levels of plastics and toxic chemicals.

@SoupDragon yeah that's another one.

Plastic based clothing is resulting in micro plastics being washed into the water system.

Something else we need to change.

Microplastic is in loads of cosmetics, rather than pop bottles.

The best way of reducing waste is to use reusable drinks bottles, or buy the biggest size possible for drinking at home, if you do drink bottled water, soft drinks, etc.

Glass is better than plastics from a recycling pov but not so great in public places. Our school run tends to involve staring at where your feet are going the whole time so as to avoid stepping in dogshit or on broken glass.

Totally agree. The amount of plastic we throw away is absolutely horrifying.

Straws, wet wipes (some contain plastic), cigarette butts, coffee stirrers and of course, bottles are destroying our habitats.

Something has to change.

A lot of it though is waste mismanagement, not people chucking stuff into the sea. Although of course for real actual change we're going to need to quickly alter our way of life.

Why isn't there the political will on this? What can we do as citizens?

Some of it is other peoples mind sets about this.
There are still a surprisingly large amount of people who fell for the whole Daily Fail thing about recycling being pointless and a con....they had a whole slew of articles along those lines a few years back, and sadly shit sticks, even when it's not true.

Plus theres the ones who simply don't care.

But what can we do??

I'm not sure.

I want to say persuade everyone to boycott all bottled water/ certain companies/ supermarkets until they rethink, but that stuff never works because enough people will carry on buying it anyway.

Poilitical action- actual bans on things, and laws to force recycling and deposit schemes etc.

But seeing as we live in one of the most de-regulated (for business) countries in the "western" world, I don't see there being any more regulation.

Totally agree OP - it's horrifying.

Also completely agree re a bottle deposit scheme. Some other European countries have been doing it for 20 years. In the UK I think we're really behind the curve on a lot of environmental issues.

Oh yeah @zzzzz that would be ideal!

Ban all plastic production, only allow recycling.
Ban micro beads from all cosmetics.
Not sure about clothes- as you say you can make them from recycled products, but if the recycled products are just going to end up polluting the water system anyway, just further down the line, is it worth it?

I don't think glass bottles would help much. People who leave litter will leave litter whether it's plastic or glass. Not sure having shards of broken glass all over the place is a good option.

Education is going to be the most effective way forward.